Car-coupling.



W. S KNISELYr CAR COUELING. APPLICATION mm APR. 5. 913.

Patented Apr. 9

WILLIAM S. KNISELY, OF CHICAGO. HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS.

CAR -COUPLIN G.

Appl ieation filed April 5, 1913. Serial No. 759,245.

To all whom it may concern:

"Be it known thatI, WILLIAM S. KNISELY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago Heights, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Car-Couplings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to car couplers, and particularly to means for flexibly connecting the car coupler to the draw bar so as to permit both an up and down movement and a sidewise movement of the two parts with reference to each other to allow both for unevenness of track in passing over the top of a grade or a sag in the track and for passing around curves. A further object is to provide novel means by which when the strain or pull is removed from the parts, they automatically return to alinement.

The invention consists in a device capable of carrying out the foregoing objects, which i can be easily and cheaply .made and installed, which operates satisfactorily and is not readily liable to get out of order. More in detail it consists in a device having the arrangements of parts and advantages fully set forth hereafter. I

'Inthe drawings, in which similar numerals indicate the same parts throughout the several views p Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of mechanism illustrating this invention in its preferred form.

Fig. 2 is a'section'al plan view of the right hand portion of Fig. 1.

i Fig. 3 is .a sectional detail view on the line 3 "3 'of Fig. 1. v

Fig. 4 is an enlarged somewhat distorted detail view of the extreme lower or cam portion of the draw bar as it appears in Fig. 3, the angles of the cam being slightly increasedso as to make the construction more clear.

Fig. '51s Fig. 4.

-The device is applicable for attachingany coupler body lOto adraw bar or back shank 12of any car to be hauled; In carrying out thisjinvention the coupler bodyis provided with a tail piece 14 which is inserted within a suitably formed" recess 16 within the body of the draw bar. Loosely journaled transversely'o'f the tailpiece 14 is a horizontal an end view of the parts of .shaftmember 18, which, as shown in Fig. 3,

does not extend beyond the sidewalls of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 9,1918.

tail piece. Extending through this shaft 18 and through the tail piece 14 is a vertical pin 20. On the upper end of this pin 20 is' with the coupler 10 attached may rock up and down in a vertical plane about the shaft 18 through an are limited by the front and rear angular walls 28 of theslot 26.

'From the construction just described, it will also be seen that the tail piece 14 with coupler 10 attached may rotate with the shaft 18 in a horizontal plane about the stationary pin 20 as a center, the length of the arc of such motion being limited by the engagement of the side walls 30 of the tail piece 14 with the interior side walls 32 of the bar 12.

To summarize the foregoing description, the shaft 18 and the pin 20 taken together form what might be called a universal joint between the tail piece ofthe coupler and the draw bar, permitting both horizontal and vertical rocking motion of the coupler with reference tothe draw 'bar afnd, in

draw

view ofthe fact'that a clearance space '34 of any desired depth is provided between the top of the tail piece 14' and the upper wall of the draw bar,'this tail piece has a vertical movement along the pin'2t), a'di'stance equal to thewidth of the'space'34. The above mentioned movementhaving been provided for, it is necessary to provide means for automatically returning the parts to normal alined position when they are released from the working strain which has moved them from the normal position shown in the drawings. In order to do this the bottom face of the tail piece 14 is provided in proximity to the pin .20 with'a cam surface 36 preferably in transverse cross section of about the angular'shape shown in'Fig. 3. This cam surface 36 lies within a suitable corresponding angular bed 38 formed in the bottom of the drawbar i1 2 Asit bo dg lin 4 o thi 'cai rfacenormally "lies in'the centralaxis of the the tail piece 14 will cause the. parts, under the action of these cam surfaces, to return to alined position.

In orderto increase the power of the cam device; that s to say, make t work more rapidly than it would if merely the plain cam surfaces 36 and 38 were used, the bottom of the tail piece 14 is preferably provided with a transverse cam orlug 42 running transversely of the tail piece and having a. curved surface 44 whose center of curvature is the common center 46 of the shaft 18 and the pin 20 so that when the couplerand tail piece are r tated in a vertical plane this curved face 44 rotates smoothly upon the curved face 48 formed in the bottom wall-of the draw bar. lhe curvature of the face 44 is so much sharper than the angular face 86 heretofore described that it assists said. face 36 whenever rotary motion is given to the tail piece 14 and causes the latter to move sharply upward; in other words to make a relatively more rapid upward travel in proportion to a comparatively short rotary movev ment of the tail piece. The shape of the cam surface above described may be variedwithin wide limits without departing from this invention.

In order to provide means for holding the parts in horizontal position'while permitting the movements described, coiled springs 50 and 52' supported by a suitable bolt or the like 54 are provided above and below the tail piece 14 and in'sidethe draw bar 12. The bolt 54 lies within a transversely elongated slot 56in the tail piece, which slot communicates with an'elongated passageway 58 leading to the end of the tail piece so that the tail piece may be removed.

bodily from engagement with the bolt and the draw bar without its being necessary to remove the bolt. The length of the slot 56 is such that the bolt does not'in any way interfere with the lateral movement of the tail piecewhen it oscillates about the pin 20, in the manner described.

Assuming that the parts are in the nor-- mal position. of the drawings and that an external straln depresses the coupler l0 thereby rocking the tail piece 14 in a countor-clockwise direction about the shaft 18, this motion will, while permitted, be resisted by the spring 50 which will, when the strain is removed from the coupler 10, restore the parts to normal position. Similarly,fif. the outside strain is to raise the outer end of the coupler 10, the movement will be permitted but resisted'by spring 52, which will similarly restore the parts to normal position after .the strain has been removed. When there is rotary movement of the coupler with reference to the draw bar in either direction about the pin 20 the j cam surfaces 36 and 44 travel uptheir respective supportingcam surfaces and when thestrain is removed, gravity, and to a certain extent the springs50 and 52, act to' return the parts, through the agency of the cams, to normalalined position.

When it 1S'ClGS1'L8Cl to separate the parts; for replacement or repair, the operator has a .80 the pin :20, whereupon the coupler 10 with only to remove the fastening. devices 24 and its connected tail piece 14 and the shaft 18 1 Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a deviceof the class described, the combination of two parts to be pivoted to gether, one lying within an opening 'in the other, a shaft through the interior member about which said interior member may rotate in one direction, a pin. at right anglesto said shaft passing through it and the two members to be connected, there being an elongated slot in the interior member about i the pin adapted to permit rotationof the.

interior member on the shaftin the plane of the axis of, the pin, for the purposes set forth.

2. In a device of the class described, the

combination of two members to be pivoted together, a shaft and a pin intersecting each other at right angles and journaled one inside the other, connected one each to each of the members to be rotated in such 'amanner that the members may rotate through limited angles with reference to each other in planes at right angles to each other.

3. In a device of the class described, the. combination of two members to be con-.

nected, oneof them being hollow and adapted to receive theother, a pivotal connection device between the two having bearings at an angle oneto the other permitting rotation of the two parts with reference to each other in both vertical and horizontal planes,

and spring devices adapted't'o limitedly allow but resist movement of the parts inone of said planes.

4. In a device ofthe class described, the

combination of two members to be connected, one of them being hollow an'd'adapted to receive the other, a pivotal connection device between the two having bearings at an angle one to the other permitting rotation of the two parts with reference to each other in both vertical and horizontal planes, and spring devices located to one side of the pivotal connection adapted to limitedly allow but resist movement of the parts in one of said planes.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of two members to be connected, one of them being hollow and adapted to receive the other, a pivotal connection device between the two having bearings at an angle one to the other permitting rotation of the parts with reference to each other in both vertical and horizontal planes, cam devices tending to hold thetwo members in alinement in one direction, and spring devices tending to hold the parts in alinement in the other direction and to resist movement from and restore alinement in the first direction.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination of two members to be connected, one of them being provided with a recess in which the other is inserted, a pivotal connection between the two having bearings at an angle one to the other located near the mouth of said recess permitting movement of said first mentioned part with reference to each other in two directions and spring devices located in the hollow member and inside said pivotal connection adapted to resist rotary movement of the pivoted members in a given plane.

7. In a device of the class described, a hollow draw bar member, a coupler member having a tail piece passing inside the draw bar member, a horizontal shaft member in the tail piece about which the tail piece may rotate in a vertical plane, a cam surface on the bottom of the tail piece engaging a corresponding cam surface on the inside of the bottom portion'of the draw bar member, said cam surfaces interfitting to hold the parts in alinement, a vertical pin passing through the draw bar member, the tail piece and the shaft, there being an elongated slot in the tail piece permitting movement of the tail piece in a vertical plane about said'shaft without the pins interfering therewith, and spring devices located above and below'the tail piece and within the recess in the draw bar adapted to control movement of the tail piece in a vertical plane and adapted to assist the cam device in restoring alinement when the parts are moved in a horizontal plane out of alinement.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination of a draw bar provided with a recess therein, a coupler having a tail piece 14 inserted in said recess in the draw bar, there beingan elongated slot 26 in the tail piece, a shaft 18 in the tail piece, a pin 20 through all the parts heretofore mentioned, a bolt 54 at one side of pin :20 pass ing through the draw bar and through a transversely elongated slot 56 in the tail piece, springs on a bolt above and below the tail piece, and a cam device between the bottom of the tail piece and the draw bar adjacent to the pin 20, the whole arranged as shown and described for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM S. KNISELY. Witnesses:

DWIGHT B. CHEEVER, MARGARET D. Roms.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

